Perfume Review: L'Artisan Dzing!

I love circus. Having grown up in a city with its very own, big circus (photo on the right) that functions all year round, I went to see the shows several times a year and am therefore quite familiar with and very fond of the Circus Smell. Our circus smelled of animal skin and animal bodily functions, of cedar shavings, candies, lemonade and childish anticipation. After Perestroika came, in order to survive financially, the circus started to rent parts of its building to small businesses. By small businesses I mean “shuttle traders” who would travel to Italy, Turkey, Eastern Europe, China and elsewhere, purchase goods (in this case, mostly clothes, shoes and bags) on a semi-wholesale basis, bring them back, sell them to those of us who could not go abroad to buy these things, travel again, return, etc., etc. There were several such markets in the city, but The Circus was the most expensive of them all. I remember seeing lots of nice-quality leather goods there and quite a lot of designer labels. I suppose you could say that for four-five days a week the circus became a rather upscale flea market of sorts, and when I was 18-22, “going to the circus” meant going shopping.

What I am leading to with this long nostalgic preface is that Dzing! smells to me like that circus on a “market” day. There IS some animal stench remaining, but it is not too strong and not too apparent, and most and foremost one smells expensive leather bags, shoes and jackets mixed with some French Perfume and the faint whiffs of sweet vanillic drinks that would be sold later that day to the kids who’ll come to watch a show. Perhaps my senses are slightly clouded by the sentimental mist of memories, but I think everything about this scent is absolutely wonderful. The leather note is beautiful and elegant, it smells like the softest calf-skin glove and has a lovely delicate saffron undertone. The wood is slightly spicy, dry but smooth, sweetened by a hint of caramel. The musk in the drydown is not too dirty but not uninterestingly clean either and serves as a perfect reminder that, whatever else might be going on in the circus, there are still elephants, lions and tigers there and the show will go on. Allé hop!

Dzing! is available at Aedes, Lusckyscent and everywhere where L’Artisan perfumes are sold, $75.00-$110.00.